A plan to bring the Britannia and UK protection-and-indemnity (P&I) mutuals together in a superclub has fallen apart but it may not be the last word on mergers.

The four-month bid to amalgamate the clubs has opened a Pandora’s box, with all possible permutations of mergers among the 13 International Group clubs continuing to be the subject of speculation.

The failure of the Britannia/UK merger is an illustration of the challenge involved in bringing two P&I mutuals together but there are plenty of other candidates for a deal.

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